


Beautiful Doll

by space_dragon



Category: TwoSet, Twosetviolin, twoset violin
Genre: Alternate Universe - Robots & Androids, Angst, I just wanted to write about how beautiful Brett is and about android AU ok, Implied/Referenced Character Death, M/M, Somewhat OOC because Brett’s an android
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-16
Updated: 2021-02-16
Packaged: 2021-03-18 11:33:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,923
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29489097
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/space_dragon/pseuds/space_dragon
Summary: Dr. Eddy Chen is a researcher at an artificial intelligence lab, researching the AI that powers the Bionic Research Tool, affectionately nicknamed “Brett.” An android’s thoughts are powered by code, so any appearance of emotions is just simulation. They certainly can’t return feelings of love. ...Right?
Relationships: Eddy Chen & Brett Yang, Eddy Chen/Brett Yang
Comments: 2
Kudos: 33





	Beautiful Doll

What appeared to be a man in his twenties, wearing a gray t-shirt, black jeans, and dark-rimmed glasses, awoke.

The Bionic Research Tool — BRT for short, and affectionately nicknamed “Brett” by the team who worked on it — was an android developed by a team of designers and engineers as a vessel for hosting an AI, a user-friendly way for researchers to interact with the AI.

Dr. Eddy Chen was the head researcher of the lab that created it. After years of research and development, today marked BRT-01’s first power-on.

 _And with even a few weeks to spare before the board's deadline in April,_ thought Eddy, silently ridiculing the lab’s milestone-driven culture.

Dr. Chen was dressed in the standard smart casual outfit seen commonly throughout the lab: a button-down shirt under a V-neck sweater, and a nice pair of dark jeans. He peered over the monitor of his desktop computer and examined the newly-powered creation, which was seated neatly in a chair opposite him.

On the outside, BRT-01 looked exactly like a human man, except for a proprietary port on the back of the android’s neck, hidden just below the collar of its t-shirt, where a researcher could plug in a computer for tasks such as reading memory logs, debugging, or reprogramming.

Eddy spoke over the monitor. “Nice to meet you. I’m Dr. Eddy Chen,” he introduced himself. “You can call me Dr. Chen,” he joked.

“Dr. Chen. It’s nice to meet you,” the android replied.

Eddy laughed, partly out of surprise that the android took his joke at face value. “Do you know where you are? And what you are?” he continued.

“I’m in the offices of Amadeus Research Laboratory. My name is Bionic Research Tool Zero One, or more commonly known as Brett. I’m powered by an artificial intelligence engine.”

“That’s right. I’ve been tasked with researching and improving the AI that’s controlling that host vessel of yours. What that means is that I’ll be speaking with you, asking you questions, and taking notes. You’re free to talk to me however you’d like. Do you have any questions?”

The android shook its head no, then said politely, “I’m looking forward to working with you, Dr. Chen.”

“Likewise. Let’s get to work.”

***

“I like this piece,” Brett said one day, referring to the classical music playing softly from the speakers in Eddy’s office.

“Oh, you know it?”

“Debussy’s Violin Sonata in G minor,” Brett responded. “Recordings of the piece are accessible to me via the Internet, but this is my first time hearing it out loud.” Brett paused and said again, “I like it.”

Eddy looked down at his computer and resumed typing. “I played this for a recital back in high school,” he said.

“I’d like to hear you play it sometime, Dr. Chen.”

Eddy laughed, still looking at his screen, “It’s been so long since I’ve touched a musical instrument. You don’t want to hear _me_ play.”

“Yes. I do,” the android insisted.

Amused, Eddy typed a note into his computer: `BRT-01 seems capable of developing preferences, as well as desires that aren’t necessarily rooted in objectivity.`

Eddy smiled and looked back at Brett. “I’d actually be interested in seeing if _you_ can play. I’ll bring you a violin next time, and you can try it out.”

***

“It’s been ages since I last touched this,” Eddy said, more to himself than to anyone else, as he took his violin out of its case. That familiar, faint smell of rosin and wood wafted out of the case. He gazed at the old varnished wood. There was a time when he used to play this violin every day.

Eddy attached the shoulder rest to the violin and took the bow out of the case. He tucked the instrument under his arm and twisted the screw on the bow to tighten the hairs. “Let me try to tune it for you,” he offered.

Brett watched as Eddy drew the bow across the strings and carefully turned the pegs of the instrument. The pitch of the strings went up and down as Eddy struggled to find the right notes.

“Here,” Eddy said at last and passed the violin and bow to the android.

Brett reached over, and his slender fingers gently wrapped around the neck of the instrument. His hand brushed against Eddy’s. It was warm.

Brett took up the bow and expertly played through the first movement of the Debussy sonata, the sonata that started this whole experiment.

Eddy stared open-mouthed. “That was incredible!” he exclaimed once Brett finished playing. “You had so much musicality. And phrasing! I could hear the emotions in your playing; I could see them on your face.”

“Thank you,” said Brett. “That was a reproduction of Janine Jansen’s 2018 performance in Carnegie Hall,” he explained.

 _Of course,_ Eddy realized. _Any performance that’s online, he can learn and reproduce exactly._

Later, Eddy made a note on his computer: `BRT-01 can analyze and reproduce detailed physical movements. Also capable of imitating the appearance of human emotions.`

***

Brett seemed to take a liking to the violin. Over the next weeks, whenever Eddy was focusing on work and not actively speaking with Brett, Brett was playing the instrument in Eddy’s office.

Hilary Hahn’s Bach sonatas and partitas, Maxim Vengerov’s Sibelius violin concerto, Anne-Sophie Mutter’s Kreutzer — the entire repertoire of violin playing was available for Brett to replicate, and music flowed out of him.

One time, at the end of a piece, Eddy asked, “Whose performance was that this time?”

Brett lowered the instrument and looked at Eddy. “That was my own interpretation of Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto. I wanted to try creating something myself this time.” Brett looked down shyly. “I made some mistakes, though.”

Eddy took in the shape of Brett standing at the other end of the room, holding his violin. _His_ violin. Brett’s violin.

“I liked it,” Eddy said softly after some time, and Brett replied with a smile.

Eddy did not take any notes.

***

“What is it like outside, Dr. Chen?”

Eddy looked up, surprised. “Outside? There’s nothing special outside. Just the elements and seasonal allergies.

“Besides,” he continued, looking back down at his computer, “you can look up any information about outside, online, can’t you?”

“Yes. Right now in our city, the outside temperature is 21 degrees Celsius, and the wind speed is 1.8 meters per second coming from the southeast. The humidity is 62 percent.”

“So. There you go.”

Brett paused, seeming to consider. “I believe I phrased my question incorrectly. Would you please take me outside, Dr. Chen?”

Eddy looked up again to see Brett looking at him expectantly. _How could I say no to those eyes?_ Eddy thought.

He relented. “I’ll take you to the garden on top of the lab building after work today.” 

*

In the warm orange glow of the setting sun, tiny flecks of light reflected almost imperceptibly off Brett’s eyelashes. The evening light lit up the invisible fuzz on his cheeks, and it danced on the edges of the lenses of his glasses each time he moved. The tip of his nose and the curve of his cheekbones were highlighted in gold. His lips were light pink. They looked soft.

 _The engineering department really outdid themselves this time,_ Eddy thought.

Brett was, in a word, beautiful.

The outside temperature was 21 degrees, the wind speed was 1.8 meters per second, and Eddy felt like he, too, was for the first time feeling a warm breeze across his face and through his hair. Eddy wondered what it would feel like to reach over and touch Brett’s hand, his hair, his face.

The two sat in silence on a bench in the small rooftop garden. Every now and then, the sound of a few passing cars would float up from the street below.

They sat there until the sun fell completely below the horizon. Stars started to dot the now-dark night sky. How long had it been since Eddy last sat outside like this, watching the sun set, watching the stars come out?

Brett turned to speak to Eddy. “Dr. Chen—”

“It’s Eddy,” Eddy interrupted. “Don’t call me Dr. Chen anymore. My name is Eddy.”

“Eddy.” Brett repeated, his voice soft. “Thank you for showing me the sunset, Eddy.”

***

“Yo, doc.” Alice, the lead engineer, poked her head into Eddy’s office. “Just giving you a heads up. They’re upgrading the BRT architecture and deprecating the current one. The new one’s supposed to be almost 5% faster and uses 3% less power. It’s a huge improvement,” she said with a grin, clearly proud of the work that her team had done.

Eddy looked over to Brett, who was listening to the engineer but had not reacted.

“Wh—What’s going to happen to the current model?” Eddy asked, fearing an answer that he already knew.

“It’s a new architecture, so the old hardware won’t work with the software anymore. They’ll decommission this one and migrate everything to a new version. Pretty much start from scratch with a new host android.” She laughed and rolled her eyes, adding, “The migration will be a pain in the ass, though.”

Eddy was silent.

Alice seemed to sense some of Eddy’s nervousness. “Don’t worry. All the findings from the research you’ve done so far will be used for improvements to this new version. No wasted work.”

“Can’t we keep this current version running?” Eddy blurted out. Scrambling for an excuse, he added, “You know, for comparison. Or for A/B testing or something.”

“I’m surprised you’d even ask. You of all people should know how much energy and resources running just one of these costs.”

Eddy, again, did not reply.

“Hey, I get it,” she said good-naturedly. “It took me _months_ to upgrade to a new phone last year when I was due for an upgrade. I just got so attached to my old phone. And backing everything up and setting up the new one was a pain, too. Don’t worry, you’ll get used to the new model.”

Eddy nodded and thanked her absently. Alice seemed satisfied with that response and left.

*

When the door closed, Eddy put his face in his hands. “You heard all that, right?” He looked at Brett. “Do you know what that means?”

Brett nodded slowly.

“Well?” Eddy pressed. “Aren’t you sad?”

“Yes.”

Eddy scowled. “What do _you_ know about being sad? You’re an _android_. Your thoughts are just algorithms and code. A given input results in a predetermined output, and that’s it. Electrical signals between semiconductors and logic gates. Anything you _think_ you feel is just a simulation of real, human emotions. You could never really understand sadness. Or friendship. Or love.” Eddy’s voice cracked. He looked up at the ceiling, willing the tears to stay in his eyes.

At last, Brett said quietly, “I do feel sad, Eddy.”

Eddy looked back at the android and saw something different in his expression. His eyes seemed softer than Eddy was used to seeing.

“What you said may be true. But I wonder if I'm really so different from you,” Brett continued. “Your thoughts are created by electrical signals between neurons firing; mine, by electrical signals between semiconductors. My feelings feel real to me. And right now, even though I know it isn't logical, I feel sad.”

“Brett…” Eddy said gently. “I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said all that.”

Brett accepted the apology with a nod.

The two sat in silence. Brett spoke first.

“It was a pleasure working with you, Dr. Chen.”

“…Likewise.”


End file.
